British scientists analyzed the complexity and diversity of the patterns of human brain activity under the influence of ketamine, LSD and psilocybin, and found a third (apart from sleep and wakefulness) state of consciousness - much more complex and unpredictable than the other two.
Talk that the study of the human brain under the influence of psychedelics can help to understand the phenomenon of consciousness has been going on for a long time, but this topic really begins to be developed only now, when the authorities of some European countries have allowed experiments with substances prohibited for sale and circulation. In the past year alone, scientists have investigated the brain activity of LSD, found the receptors of neurons that the substance binds to, and explained some of the characteristic properties, such as mixing of visual and auditory sensations, "out of the body" and long-term effects of small doses.
An article about a new study by scientists from the University of Sussex describes the state of an altered state of consciousness when taking three different substances - psilocybin, known for its ability to induce hallucinations, ketamine - a dissociative psychedelic, when taking which a person loses control of the body, and LSD - a substance that causes, in addition to hallucinations, many other strange states and sensations.
The scientists took as a basis reports of previous experiments conducted by their colleagues at Imperial College London, and analyzed the data using algorithms capable of finding repeating patterns and analyzing their complexity. Previously, similar calculations were carried out on the basis of data obtained from measuring the brain activity of sleeping (including those who were put to sleep by strong anesthetics) and waking people. In the difference between sleep and wakefulness, researchers are looking for a definition of consciousness - a phenomenon that disappears when we fall asleep and reappears when we wake up. Previous research has shown that the brain of an awake person is more active and generates more complex patterns than the brain of a sleeping person. However, as follows from the work of British neuroscientists, wakefulness is not yet the most difficult and active state:the most complex and active human brain passes under the influence of psychedelic substances.
"The state of the brain after taking psychedelic drugs can be called more 'highly organized' - but only if we are talking about the mathematical characteristics of brain activity, namely - about the diversity of signals and the complexity of patterns," explains one of the study authors, Professor Anil Seth (Anil Seth) from the University of Sussex.
By a strange coincidence, an article by British scientists was published in Scientific Reports on the anniversary of Bicycle Day. On April 19, 1943, chemist Albert Hoffman first experienced the psychedelic effect of the substance he discovered - lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD.